On October 19th – 21st, Navigate attended the 9th Annual Delaware Valley – New Jersey Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (DV-NJ HIMSS) Conference, which centered on “The Essential Role of Technology in Population Health.” Professionals from across the region’s healthcare IT industry gathered to take part in track-based educational sessions focused on pertinent topics such as quality measurement, patient transition, patient engagement, pay for performance, privacy & security, and care delivery.

The first keynote speaker of the conference, Dr. Steve Adubato, a well-known broadcaster, author, and motivational speaker, discussed the critical role IT will play in achieving population health and described his perspective on one of the greatest challenges facing IT – change management. With poignant examples and humors stories, Dr. Adubato pointed out that change is uncomfortable for everyone, but leaders in every organization can make or break the experience for their employees. He left IT leaders with several tactics that they can leverage to support effective change management:

Own the change. Just accepting the change is not enough. Employees can tell when a leader is not invested in the change and will follow that lead.

Be transparent with employees – Always. Trust can be a barrier to change; if employees do not trust their leader, they will not trust the change being championed.

Be the first to raise opposition to the change and address it head on. Demonstrate that you have looked at the impact of the change from all angles. Acknowledge employees’ fear and address their number one concern – “Am I losing my job?”

Dr. Jeffrey Brenner, founder of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, gave an inspiring presentation on the power of data analytics to impact change. By analyzing patient data, Dr. Brenner identified a small selection of Camden’s patient population responsible for the majority of hospital costs. These “Super-Utilizers” had high rates of emergency room use and hospitalization, and often had complex health and social issues and lacked an understanding of how to use the healthcare system. The Coalition developed a patient management program to identify and support Super-Utilizers from the time they entered the hospital until long after they had been discharged. Providing high-touch care resulted in reduced hospital and emergency room visits as well as reduced healthcare costs.

Identifying an inverse correlation between social services and healthcare costs, Dr. Brenner and his team went one step further. Many of the Super-Utilizers lacked safe and stable housing, a prerequisite of good health. The Coalition began offering apartment and support services for addiction, mental health issues and providing them with online addiction treatment and private opiate treatments. By eliminating the barrier of homelessness, patients were able to focus on maintaining treatment and subsequently reduced costs on hospitals, jails, and shelters.

The final keynote of the morning, Chief Nursing Officer for IBM Global Healthcare Judy Murphy, spoke to the shift towards value-based care, citing that by the end of 2018, 50% of government reimbursements will be risk-based alternative payments. With 20% of the population driving approximately 80% of healthcare costs, effective population health management will require some level of individualization or personalization of care. By segmenting the patient population, the healthcare industry can customize engagement and outreach efforts so that intervention efforts can be focused on the high-risk, high-cost populations. Judy also provided effective engagement strategies for high-risk populations, including leveraging text messaging and tapping into retail behavior by offering gift cards to incentivize actions.

The annual DV-NJ HIMSS conference continues to grow year over year, providing a platform for the best minds in the healthcare IT industry to come together to share their perspectives and accomplishments and learn from each other.

Stay tuned for ongoing news and insights regarding the intersection of healthcare and IT and check out this link to learn more about Navigate’s services in this industry.